ARTICLES ABOUT MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS BY DATE - PAGE 2

Even if you love Christmas music, the sugar rush can make you ill. Billboard reports that 2,100 Christmas titles have been bought this year, including bad new ones by sax man Kenny G. and Euro dudes Il Divo, and a collection of flatulent sounds called "Jingle Smells." Here are 10 songs released this year. A few are perennial classics, newly reissued. "Christmas Celebration," Weezer: Let's start with a dose of humbug. "Carolers are singing, registers ka-chinging," and Rivers Cuomo and crew crank it to drown out the noise.

John Waters loves Christmas -- loves it. This is, after all, a guy who once wrote: "If you don't have yourself a merry little Christmas, you might as well kill yourself." In that spirit, the 58-year-old director -- as infamous for the squalid "Pink Flamingos" as he is for the squeaky-clean "Hairspray" -- has compiled a dozen of his favorite holiday tunes for the new CD "A John Waters Christmas." "I've always loved Christmas albums. I collect them," Waters said during a phone interview from his home in Baltimore.

John Waters loves Christmas--loves it. This is, after all, a guy who once wrote: "If you don't have yourself a merry little Christmas, you might as well kill yourself." In that spirit, the director--as infamous for the squalid "Pink Flamingos" as he is for the squeaky-clean "Hairspray"--has compiled a dozen of his favorite holiday tunes on "A John Waters Christmas." "I've always loved Christmas albums. I collect them," Waters said during a phone interview from his home in Baltimore.

It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 holiday songs, carols, ditties and tunes, and though you probably feel as if you have heard every one of them in the last few weeks, it's likely that you have only heard about 4,920. Still, holiday music comes at us like a ferocious blizzard at this time of year. Two local radio stations are devoting their entire playlists to holiday hits. They pour from speakers in stores, elevators, hotel bars and your home sound system. The CD racks are filled with tunes in astonishing variety; it seems as if everybody but Oprah and Mike Ditka have special holiday CDs on the shelves.

Take a short break from the holiday rush. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at 3 p.m. Saturday offers shoppers downtown a brief respite from crowded stores. The free musical tribute to Judy Garland is co-hosted by Suzanne Petri, president of Chicago Cabaret Professionals, and features such vocalists as Nan Mason, Beckie Menzie and Kat Taylor. Audrey Morris makes a special guest appearance. They will sing many of Garland's signature songs, including the one that gives the program its name.

QUESTIONS 1) In the film comedy "A Christmas Story," what does Ralphie want for Christmas? 2) Who played "Mrs. Santa Claus" in a 1996 holiday movie musical of that title? 3) In "The Chipmunk Song," what does Alvin say he wants for Christmas? 4) In what holiday perennial would you find a character named Zuzu? 5) What endearing "Wizard of Oz" cast member later played the villainous Barnaby in Disney's "Babes in Toyland"? 6) What long-running CBS drama series was inspired by 1971's TV movie "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story"?

There are performers who come out of Chicago, and then there are those who seem to belong to the city, stars whose lights shine brightest here, whose fans harbor proprietary feelings of kinship and outright love. Karen Mason, returning again this year with her Christmas show to Davenport's, is maybe the quintessential representative of that latter breed. She hasn't lived here, she mentions in the show, for 24 years now, and only recently she won a Drama Desk Award in New York for her role in the Broadway show "Mamma Mia!"

By David Medsker. Medsker is a RedEye contributor. Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) | December 5, 2002

Every music collection needs to have a holiday subset. Pack it up with the ornaments and pull it out when the time seems right for some instant seasonal cheer. RedEye recommends these 12 plays of Christmas, an eclectic mix of holiday-inspired music. 1. You Sleigh Me The 1995 compilation of Atlantic artists puts Tori Amos and Everything but the Girl next to Billy Pilgrim and Julianna Hatfield. Don't Miss: Collective Soul's rockin' version of Elvis' "Blue Christmas" and Donna Lewis' new Christmas classic "Christmas Lights."

James Taylor October Road (Columbia) Though James Taylor's first new album in five years isn't unnervingly different from anything he's done in the last two decades, it's mildly adventurous in its own deliberative way: There are forays into bossa nova and soul, orchestral touches throughout, and a jazz-lite rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" that's just about perfect. "October Road" is unlikely to win any new converts, but it's a warm and gorgeous work that finds Taylor sticking to his usual romantic and familial themes.

Jumpin' Jupiter! Nickelodeon's hoped-for Next Big Thing, "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," is now playing in theaters. This G-rated computer-animated adventure originated as an award-winning 1995 video short. Created by director John A. Davis, "Jimmy Neutron" will launch first as a movie, then as a TV series. Ten-year-old Jimmy is not the coolest kid in Retroville, but he is the smartest. He creates fantastic inventions in a secret underground lab beneath his house. One fateful night, Jimmy defies his parents and sneaks out with his friends to attend the opening of an amusement park.